The Oscar Ratings Results Are in and They Ain’t Pretty [Updated]
[guest post by JVW]
Deadline reports:
It was a historic 92nd Academy Awards with a first Best Picture recipient not in the English language in Parasite adding an element of surprise to a largely predictable winners list. There was something historic in the ratings for the 2020 Oscars too — a historic low.
[. . .]
[T]he ceremony, which clocked in at 3 hours and 36 minutes — up from 3 hours, 23 minutes in 2019 — could not repeat last year’s ratings turnaround, drawing 23.6 million total viewers and a 5.3 rating in the adults 18-49 demographic, based on Nielsen’s Live+Same Day Fast National ratings ordered by ABC. That is down sharply, -20% in viewers and -31% in the demo ,from last year’s 29.6 million viewers and a 7.7 adults 18-49 rating. It also is down double-digits from the Oscars’ previous smallest audience, 26.5 million in 2018.
Overall, the Oscars was the most watched entertainment special since last year’s ceremony, topping the Grammy Awards and Golden Globes in total viewers. Other broadcast networks didn’t try to compete Sunday, with all airing repeats.
The Academy of Motion Pictures, its fans, and ABC will probably be quick to blame the phenomenon of “cutting the cord” and streaming content over the Internet for the decline in ratings, but that alone can’t explain a one-fifth drop in viewership since last year. And sure, not having a superhero movie nominated — no, I’m not going to count The Joker — might have turned off a certain type of viewer. But will any honest voices in Tinseltown give consideration to the hard question of whether the predictably smug left-wing politics on display every single year is turning off casual viewers?
You would think that a group of multi-millionaires (and some billionaires) could congregate for one night to celebrate achievement in their industry without resorting to the shallow virtue-signaling of their complete wokey-woke-wokeness, but you would be wrong.
[UPDATE] – Made a post-publication edit to the headline to add the words “Oscar Ratings” so that the topic of the post is immediately clear.
[UPDATE II] – This cracks me up. During the Oscar telecast, Natalie Portman’s cape featuring the embroidered names of women directors who had not been nominated for an Academy Award made the rounds. One observer pointed out a slight contradiction between Ms. Portman’s woke feminism and her own actions:
Natalie Portman’s production company has only ever hired 1 female director (her name was Natalie Portman) https://t.co/DRUVM1oezW
— Angela Morabito (@AngelaLMorabito) February 11, 2020
I looked it up because I was afraid it was too good to be true, but she’s right: IMDB lists Natalie Portman as a producer on ten different movies — six times as an executive producer to boot — yet zero of those movies feature a female director. The IMDB page for her production company has only one of eleven films directed by a woman, Ms. Portman herself. But hey, virtue was signaled.
– JVW
I’m trying to recall the last time I watched an entire Academy Awards telecast. It has to be at least fifteen years ago, perhaps twenty. I don’t think I’ve even channel-surfed by the show in the past four or five years.
JVW (54fd0b) — 2/10/2020 @ 8:05 pm[UPDATE] – Made a post-publication edit to the headline to add the words “Oscar Ratings” so that the topic of the post is immediately clear.
JVW (54fd0b) — 2/10/2020 @ 8:22 pmIf they would only keep their wokiness to their little gatherings and not try to sell us Halle Berry as a Rambo or their assortment of poofter boys as an international network of super-gangsters. Gag me with a spoon.
And, likewise, I can’t remember when I watched one of the things, either. The last one I remember William Holden presented Clint Eastwood with some kind of award, not an Oscar, the first one Eastwood had ever gotten according to him.
nk (1d9030) — 2/10/2020 @ 8:50 pmThe only things I want from award shows are dresses and performances. I am not interested in awkward scripted humor or stars thanking everyone they ever met, up to and including God.
Nic (896fdf) — 2/10/2020 @ 8:58 pmI am not interested in awkward scripted humor or stars thanking everyone they ever met, up to and including God.
I read once, and I can’t verify whether or not it is true, that prior to televising the ceremony nationwide it was quite uncommon for an award winner to make a speech beyond something extremely perfunctory like “Thank you very much. I am honored.” Once in a while a star would seize upon the moment and give an oration celebrating their own career, but pretty much back then everybody wanted to get the ceremony over with and then head out to Chasens or the Brown Derby to get stinking drunk and maybe hope to score with Veronica Lake. Now that ABC wants them to sit there for at least 210 minutes to fill up a Sunday night of television, the stars are all told to give us 60 or 90 seconds of their glorious pontificating. I wish we could go back to the old way.
JVW (54fd0b) — 2/10/2020 @ 9:22 pmI’m sure glad they hounded Kevin Hart from hosting the show. Wait — is that Eminem, purveyor of homophobic slurs? Standing O!
Munroe (dd6b64) — 2/10/2020 @ 9:35 pmWait — is that Eminem, purveyor of homophobic slurs? Standing O!
White privilege at work.
JVW (54fd0b) — 2/10/2020 @ 10:03 pmSo I said to the wife: “Let’s watch the Oscars so our betters can talk down to us!” but she demurred.
Kevin M (8ae2cb) — 2/10/2020 @ 10:19 pm[UPDATE II] – This cracks me up. During the Oscar telecast, Natalie Portman’s cape featuring the embroidered names of women directors who had not been nominated for an Academy Award made the rounds. One observer pointed out a slight contradiction between Ms. Portman’s woke feminism and her own actions:
I looked it up because I was afraid it was too good to be true, but she’s right: IMDB lists Natalie Portman as a producer on ten different movies — six times as an executive producer to boot — yet zero of those movies feature a female director. The IMDB page for her production company has only one of eleven films directed by a woman, Ms. Portman herself. But hey, virtue was signaled.
JVW (54fd0b) — 2/10/2020 @ 10:24 pmIf they were going to give a posthumous lifetime Oscar to Stan Lee, I would have watched. But they don’t respect the movies that bankroll their “art.”
Kevin M (8ae2cb) — 2/10/2020 @ 10:25 pmMs. Portman herself
I wonder if her name was on there 11 times.
She should get an Oscar for poor judgement.
Kevin M (8ae2cb) — 2/10/2020 @ 10:27 pmNever seen them. Never will. Don’t watch awards shows. Don’t get watching people congratulating themselves on how awesome and special they are.
Give me real contests and real accomplishments.
NJRob (4d595c) — 2/10/2020 @ 11:01 pmQuestions??? Who was Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein and DC Attorney Jessie Liu protecting?
mg (8cbc69) — 2/11/2020 @ 3:15 amWhat institutional interests did Rod Rosenstein and Jessie Liu consider too stunning, too damaging, too overwhelming, to confront in their decision to allow such a weak plea contrast against such severe criminal conduct?
It is even possible for the United States Dept. of Justice to conduct a trial where members of the Gang of Eight were implicated in the activity?
How could the institutions of the United States government survive the publicity of members within the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence conspiring with foreign and domestic actors to eliminate the President of the United States?
How could the highest and most widely recognized U.S. media institutions (NYT, WaPo, CNN and more) survive exposure within that same trial. The media caught participating in a government effort (receiving leaked classified information) intended to eliminate the presidency of Donald John Trump?
Who put the bomp in the bomp bah bomp bah bomp? Who put the ram in the rama lama ding dong? Why does 2 + 2 = 4 and 2 x 2 = 4, but 2 + 3 = 5 and 2 x 3 = 6?
nk (1d9030) — 2/11/2020 @ 5:44 amI heard about that movie. The plot sounded interesting. Now they are maybe going to make it into a miniseries. In English, I supose.
It may have won because some of the other nominees were from Netflix where it played in a movie theater in Los Angeles for a week or something like that and some academy voters may have felt that was cheating.
Sammy Finkelman (8e96a4) — 2/11/2020 @ 6:40 amI’m looking forward to the remake of the Ten Commandments with Will Smith as Aaron, Jackie Chan as Dathan, and Scarlett Johansson as the commander of the Pharaoh’s chariots.
nk (1d9030) — 2/11/2020 @ 6:49 amSo I’m just going to say that I really enjoyed Eminem’s performance (because I already loved the song, as well as the film, 8 Mile). And even though white Oscars didn’t see the irony in having a white rapper on stage, he was a breath of fresh air after the endless red carpet disappointment of couture fails and idiots jibber-jabbing about jibber-jabber, which is my least favorite form of public speech.
Dana (4fb37f) — 2/11/2020 @ 8:17 amAll those who complain about Eminem should have let Kid Rock be the designated white rapper from Michigan rather than holding him aloft from his ankles on a hotel balcony a la Vanilla Ice.
urbanleftbehind (5eecdb) — 2/11/2020 @ 8:28 amTesting. If this shows up, please delete it.
Chuck Bartowski (bc1c71) — 2/11/2020 @ 8:56 amOkay, when I try to post something with block quotes, it won’t go through.
Nothing to see here, go about your business.
Chuck Bartowski (bc1c71) — 2/11/2020 @ 8:59 amJVW, I read the same article you did a couple of years ago, and you’re right. Before they wer televised, the Academy Awards ceremony was a relatively low-key event. It wasn’t even broadcast on radio. The only people in attendance were the nominees and select members of the Hollywood community. Nobody gave any speeches or political statements. The winners just said, “Thank you.” Of course, radio and newspapers reported on the nominees and winners, but that was just fodder for movie posters.
That was back in the studio era. Then, if you wanted to be an actor or an actress, you had to join a studio, or troupe as it were. The studio trained you on how to act, dance and sing, but more importantly how to dress and present yourself in public. Movie stars had to have glamour.
That is what has been lost, glamour. These people today are not stars; they’re just activists in clothing.
I haven’t watched the Academy Awards for decades, but I do remember the Seventies. It was a crazy decade, when streaking, running around naked, was all the rage. David Niven was the host that year, properly dressed in a tuxedo. (He had played James Bond in the first Casino Royal, which was a comedy and not a spy thriller.) Some idiot went streaking, ran naked across the stage behind him. And Niven did not miss a beat. He just dead-panned, “What some people will not do to show off their short comings.”
Gawain's Ghost (b25cd1) — 2/11/2020 @ 3:06 pmOnce you understand the Oscars are little more than a televised sales meeting where they hand out annual awards for industry success and innovation for the previous year, it falls into perspective. T’was part of my biz for years; it’s a real b-tch to deal w/in town and to prep for, too– more work; little play; real PITA ‘Inside baseball’ stuff–and tiring just thinking about it. But what always fascinated me was how literally a day after the event, industry folks and business buzz had already moved on to the next award venue– Cannes, just three months away.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 2/11/2020 @ 3:38 pm@5.Oh Lord, I know more than you want to hear about that hell. In short, The Hays Code forced its creation and it was little more than a luncheon for years through the radio days. Hard for most to recall now, but back in the day television was the grand and evil nemesis of the film industry. Cutting the deal for the rights to televise the Academy Awards was a bold, savvy move by AMPAS at the time, particularly when they realized it was fresh revenue stream as well as a publicity venue for their product.
On a personal note, back in ’69 found an Oscar for sale on Portobello Road in London. Some editing award or such if memory serves. Price, $150. Didn’t have the cash on hand at the time– and we figured it was hot anyway.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 2/11/2020 @ 4:01 pmThese producer credits can be misleading. I’ve seen movies with dozens of producer credits. Executive producer. Associate Producer. Co-Producer. Line Producer. And to be honest – there is no criteria to determine what credit does what. (except perhaps Line Producer).
I’ve had movies made with Executive Producers who never visited the set. Someone once said a producer is a dog with a script in it’s mouth – and won’t give it up unless it gets credit.
I got Executive Producer credit on a movie last year but had NOTHING to do with the movie (except the fact it was derived from a previously made movie I was a producer and writer on).
Often managers get producer credit. Or the person who reads the screenplays for the producer (usually an Associate Producer credit). Or the movie star. Or someone with a deal with the studio. I’ve had to share credit with a line producer who insisted he wasn’t a line producer (they should be called a Production Producer) but wasn’t around when the script was pitched, developed, financed, greenlit, or had the principles cast. So Ms. Portman’s Producer credits could simply mean she wants to be a producer on the movie and have the illusion she has a little control. Or no control, just credit. Here’s a low-ish budget indice called The Man Who Knew Infinity($10 million – look at the producers on this movie.
Produced by
Nick Bain … associate producer
Manjul Bhargava … associate producer
Swati Bhise … associate producer: India / executive producer
Matt Brown … producer (as Matthew Brown)
Audrey Kathleen Chong … associate producer
David Cochrane … associate producer
Joseph Newton Cohen … executive producer (as Joseph N. Cohen)
Harsh Dave … line producer: India
Meeta Dave … line producer: India
Alice Dawson … line producer: India
Gary Ellis … executive producer
Bruce Wayne Gillies … line producer: pick-up unit
Melissa Robyn Glassman … associate producer
Pamela Godfrey … executive producer
Phil Hunt … executive producer
Huw Penallt Jones … co-producer
Robert Kanigel … co-producer
Jon Katz … producer
Vinod Kumar … associate producer
Tayyab Madni … associate producer
Takase Masayuki … associate producer
Mark Montgomery … executive producer
Anthony Timothy Morris … associate producer
Simon Moseley … line producer
Kumagi Nariaki … associate producer
Ken Ono … associate producer
James Passin … associate producer
Edward R. Pressman … producer
Sarah Ramey … associate producer
Compton Ross … executive producer
Manraj S. Sekhon … executive producer
Shail Shah … executive producer
Parveen Shereef … associate producer
Tristine Skyler … executive producer
Sofia Sondervan … producer
Apparswamy Subramanian … associate producer
Min-Li Tan … executive producer
Masaaki Tanaka … executive producer
Anand Tharmaratnam … associate producer
Jomon Thomas … producer (as Joe Thomas)
Nakai Toshinori … associate producer
Richard Toussaint … executive producer
Sam Raj Kumar Wilson … associate producer
Jim Young … producer
I suspect they got a favor and traded credit for it. Funny! And smart of the “real” producer. I once thought of selling producer credits on a movie and selling, say, $25 dollar participation for Associate Producer credit, but say that it will only show on the DVD. For this they will get a standard issue contract, with a standard-issue “net profit definition” – which means you will get nothing unless the movie makes a half a billion dollars. Then just have a long credit roll of a hundred thousands name at the end of the DVD – and thing is – people will buy the DVD just to see their name in the credits!
Dale Launer (b978c3) — 2/13/2020 @ 12:33 amThank you for your comment, Dale, and welcome to this little site.
felipe (023cc9) — 2/13/2020 @ 3:00 am